From: Keith Hayse
2:02 am Eastern Standard Time: I just got in the door from a 12 hour flight from Vancouver to Philadelphia, including layovers and delays. An why would I travel that far? To see the Hottest Band In The World kick off a new Millenium! Here's what went down:

There seemed to be almost NO promotion on television for the concert whatsoever- even in Vancouver. On their "200 Today" broadcast, along with a number of other news programs, bands were named through-out each major Canadian city, ranging from the well-known (Celion Deon's final performance* Thank God!*) to the obscure, but Vancouver was represented by Lou Vega. LOU VEGA?!? With all due respect, Lou "A Little Bit Of.." Vega sold 4,000 tickets where right across the bay KISS was playing to 14,000 plus. One little side note: KISS The Second Coming DVD was released on New Year's Eve to coincide with the concert, five days before it's official release. I'm watching it right now. Anyway, to the concert.

My girlfriend and I showed up around 7:10 to find long lines waiting to get in. Finally, an hour later, they let us in. There were already a number of drunk people, and once inside the beer lines were massive. But not as big as the merchandise lines. The merchandise WAS NOT handled well. There were a handful of stands with an=average of 3 people handling 3000. I waited 45 minutes just to find that one of the t-shirts, the giant Millenium poster, and the keychain were sold out. After this disappointment we went into the concert where one of the opening acts were playing. The first of many problems occurs when a drunk girl almost knocks my girlfriend down the steps. Once we get to the ground we walk to the front of the stage. Excellent position! This lasts all of 5 minutes before 2 monsters get into a full bombastic brawl and almost take out a few innocent bystanders. Where was security? Standing by watching!?! Security at this concert was a total joke. We walked around to the other side and positioned ourselves between a nice couple and an older group. Perfect. We suffer through the opening act( who chose these guys anyway?) and finally they leave. A promo comes on for KISS:IMMOTALS. It was truly unbelievable. I can't wait to see this thing. As far as I know it's a Multipath DVD with KISS as computer animated superheroes. It looked awesome.

After that the lights go down and the show gets ready to start. A cutain drops from the stage (not without a major effort) and a 5 to 10 minutes video of the ENTIRE history of the band is shown. Unbelievable! After that the music starts and BANG! the band comes out on stage! I Think. You seen, the nice couple in front of us suddently became the most inconsiderate pricks I've ever met when the guy lifts his girlfriend up on the barricade and blocks the vision of every one behind them. Almost on cue, a number of other guys pull this kind of shit. Let me say this- if you go to a concert, show some fucking consideration for the people around you. I mean, does fucking up someone else's experience somehow enhance yours? Pricks. And once again WHERE WAS SECURITY?!? We took off into the crowd and stood on the steps to the second level to get a better view. Guess what? Security made us leave. So we waled up to the outside area where they had merchandise that wasn't available earlier including the DIGITAL Motion cards. I bought all four. But I missed the first three songs- Psycho Circus, Shock Me and Heaven's On Fire. Missing HOF really pissed me off. We went back in and found decent seats on the second level where you could actually sit down and relax. It wasn't as interactive but by this time who cared. As far as the concert, there were alot of fuck ups. The big scene on our side got blown out four three songs, eqipment and vocals were blown out here and there by explosions (maybe the biggest and loudest they;ve ever done) the countdown never came up and we "rushed" into the New Year, and Gene was lifted too fast/too high for God of Thunder and smacked his back on the lighting rig. That scared the shit out of me and I'm sure it nearly gave him a heart attack. Someone's ass was grass after that night. However, it wasn't all that bad.

The band played incredibly strong that night. On the last tour they seemed to have lost something and Ace looked like hell. He looked like he's lost a LOT of weight for this tour. How he did it I don't know. Paul seemed to get pissed right before Love Gun however when , as he's about to kick off the song a "fly" to the middle of the arena, Ace is no where to be found. Paul got on the mike and announced" Can we please have a Mr. Ace Frehley on stage." Ace did a little dance when he came on so it might have been nothing. As far as 80s songs- 3 were played. "Heaven's On Fire," "Lick It Up," and "I LOve It Loud." I was kinda hoping for more. Overall, beyond the problems outside of the band, the show was great. Standing room only looks GREAT on video, but it was the worst idea they could have gone with. Especially on New Years. It was memeorable, though.

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